jorrie

Just browsing the internet trying to learn a bit more, So basically the original looks like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mens-President-Watch-Band-for-Rolex-Day-Date-in-18K-White-Gold-20-MM-67-Grams-/131665919874 With a daydate one could use a steel bracelet but building a DD one would need a replica bracelet that has gold plating. Havent seen any after market or replica bracelets that come close. Most one's are cheap 20 US dollar knockoffs. My thoughts on getting the most realistic and best effect would be using a steel president bracelet in the high quality range then white gold plating it. Matt, The ones you can provide are 118239 with solid parts? If I would buy one in stainless steel from you and get the juweler gold white plate it, would be possible to get a nearly close call on to the GEN one (?)

Introducing the Rolex Day-Date 40 with the new Calibre 3255 – Review with Live photos, specs & price The Rolex Day-Date had always been the most elegant, refined and luxurious watch of the Oyster Collection by Rolex – that also has elegant watches in its Cellini collection. Exclusively made in precious metals – gold or platinum – it was available for years in 36mm and more recently in 41mm (with the Day-Date II), but still with the same complication: a 3-hand timepiece showing the date and the day in a unique (but now iconic and highly copied) way. For Baselworld 2015, this luxury Rolex receives a serious update, not only by getting new colours but also by coming with a new case and, mostly, a brand new movement. Here is the Rolex Day-Date 40 with the new Rolex Calibre 3255. https://monochrome-watches.com/rolex-day-date-40-calibre-3255-review-price/ Really liked the new bracelet style and the refinements. Sadly my wallet does not meet my taste else I would have bought one and wear it during franken builds I would get one in platinum which gets the price around a hefty 50.000. What is the opinion on this new Rolex? Beside the movement.

Just a note, after some absence both by Rick and me we have both returned to the forums and going to give this a follow up. Rick I thought about this perhaps its even possible for you to SCAN the back casing? That way we would have a 1:1 flat reference for extra precision. I would use this scan as a backdrop in illustrator combined with the measurements to get an exact replica. Also the text kerning and other aspects need tweaking probably to get the best results. Also the font in question is important. Perhaps its the "rolex font" but it could well be a older font type modded. Worst case scenario it does not match the rolex font and its not replicatbate in a 95% to 100% range. If you would want to do it really good then one would need to replicate the font also which would be kinda time consuming. But let us look at how things work out with the discussed workflow.

Need to replace the glass from my 16234 datejust build by mymanmatt. Haven't asked him personally for advice since he can supply a replacement part. The only questions are 1) How to replace it 2) What tools are required. From my resource Ill be needing a "bench press" to press the glass inside the casket slowly. Also this would require removing the fluted bezel with sharp knife, tool and lift it from the glass and the casket. Then the saphier glass would come "free" although I have no idea how one would remove it. Hope someone can provide some instructions / guidance and a list of tools required. I think it will also need a carefull cleaning and plan to remove the backcase to so all the glass can be removed from the watch. I know the official rolexes would need a full service afterwards this, but since there is no original clock inside I plan to just carefully remove all the glass parts, then re-assemly the watch again carefully. Want to take the steps required well educated so I can enjoy the watch again since its just amazing piece of art.

Good questions, I was looking around to get some basic tooling myself also. +1 for the topic poster. My I add to the original question, where to get those tools best? Most ideal would be a rolex starterkit toolset. Personally I need one for the daydate and datejust to do some basic assembly and dissambly. Ideal for my personally from an european online store. Some complete set to kickstart ( but not the top notch quality ofcourse ) is what im now looking at: http://www.ebay.com/itm/LB1-High-Performance-New-Watch-Repair-Tool-Kit-for-Rolex-Oyster-Perpetual-Cos-/322054449396 BUT I need reference on what type of rolexes this is applicable for ( the baseback opener tool that is ) also with a plastic squeeze ball seems to work fine, anyone experience with that?

Hi Everyone, Just curious is there are some rolex enthousiasts from the Netherlands that build there own frankens. I have spend hours and hours reading this forum and would like to get a bit more into the know-how enough so I can take on a franken build; a rolex daydate 118239 in white gold. I would be great to talk with some like minded rolex enthousiasts that also build franken rolexes. "locals from the netherlands" and share some thoughts. Not sure anyone is hanging around here but if you do and are interested in my daydate effort please drop me a message or a PM.

Going to give it a try and document the process along the way with photos. So the basic parts in good quality I could get from you matt? How is the quality on the president bracelet whitegold, has anyone actually done a white gold franken anyway? Or is that a step to high perhaps.

Hi Matt, Thank you for your reply. Im going to get married next year and wanted to build this one myself as a challenge. After reading up more on the serial numbers it would be better to go with the 118239 since it would have the updated bracelet and clasp [president clasp] (SOLID centre links) and thicker construction of the clasp. There where updates introduced in 2000 with the "K" Series model 118238 like completely polished casing. 18K white gold not by rolex would be rodhium plated. At least on the originals, not sure about the aftermarket ones you can get Matt? I only see those 20 dollar ones on ebay, in stainless steel that can't be any good. My part list would become in basics: - 118239 casing with matching bracelet president hidden clasp solid inner not like on daydate hollow. Perhaps It can be wrapped with white gold afterwards. - Original oyster glacier blue index non roman dail ( probably hard to source ) - gen Tudor Dress Hands w/ lume - Gen matching Sapphire crystal - Correct matching date/day discs - Gen Swiss matching Any thoughts on above? Ill send you email matt this weekend perhaps we can work out a build anyway since after wall your the expert and it would be perfect as possible from your hands.

So i meant this image instead: Any thoughts on the color code for this one?

I know ill send him an email one of these days. Only wanted to attempt a build myself its more expensive in the end but I would be a really cool thing to do. Still have to readup and readup but getting a shopping list is something one can think about.

Hi everyone, After getting a awesome datejust from matt and loving it every minute im now investigating the build of a rolex president. My goal is a 118209 president watch like in below picture but with non roman numbers. Any thougts on this? I think most parts can be sourced. But Since im wanting to build it in 18k white gold the most difficult parts to source are -- high quality bracelt -- casing Any thoughts on where to get one? Already looked at chrono24 and ebay Also can anyone tell me what color this dail is in below picture? IT seems almost blue to green.

We probably need a more high res closeup picture of the letters to determine the exact font. just some example the rolex font look a like, which is not the one on the back is like: http://myfonts.us/td-fjFbfp To sum up to be able to replicate this correctly: 1) It would help if we know the font name of the back case you want to replicate 2) Zoomed in high quality photos of as much words with indidivel letters to detect the used font or closest resemblance ( manual correction of font is possible but takes some time ) 3) A full high picture with all the text on the back so we can overlay the font after resizing the image as a backdrop to work on in the correct size

Great happy holidays! Please send me a PM then, with a notice. Im not always seeings the forum replies right away, will build you the vector AI then.

Found this website with comparison, I assume the REP gold bracelet is the cheap one at 40 US dollars. Probably the ones matt does are much better I havent seen any. http://designersanddiamonds.com/fake-rolex-presidential/

How much would such a bracelet be price wise? I have been drooling for a 18K gold rolex datejust but had to choose to start with a "regular datejust silver" one. Still interested in a comparison of the gold wrapped and the real gold ones, it doesn't add much to the look and feel except more weight I assume? A full gold bracelet would be easily in the thousands Im not sure it really adds value in terms of visuals. A watch that is wrapper and maybe "just" at 1/2K max around the wrist would make me feel a little more comfortable Would be very interested to see a president wrapped 18k gold bracelet compared to an original one.

Great let me onow ill arrange ai upload then. Interesting to see how it works out!

If you can provide the font (name) the text and the height and width of some of the letters in MM ( Im from europe ) I could make the AI vector file for you and / or export it to PDF for printing in high resolution. An example image or photo what you would want to replica would be the best. Its also the letter spatial and width that needs to be taken into account. You can use www.whatthefont.com, upload an image of the font to recognize what font was used. Just follow the online wizard after uploading your image.

Not sure if this is of any help, but I could not easily find any information regarding all rolex case sizings until I found below link: I just found the link recently and found it quite useful, if its not ok to post them please remove it @admins. http://www.clockmaker.com.au/rolex_case_size.html

Groeten uit Holland ! Greetings from the Netherlands!

Also looking for a president bracelet. Did you managed to get a good source? The one mymanmat uses look really good I wonder where he gets them... We probably will never know If a complete bracelet is only 39 dollar it cannot be any good, its cheap crapp can we take such price seriously?

Thank you for the suggestions hologramet, The watch posted looks really nice but is not the one Im looking for. After reading another several hours, I think the only option is to build a franken myself actually. But then you not "just build" one, even if you have all the correct parts. Its just not leading to anything even if you have all the information, i guess its just guess trying to build one the first time. Need a bit of luck and the tools with no reference. For the date just mymanmat is mentioned everywhere on every board, I can assume its a bit frustrating for the newbies that its not possible to order any watch and one must concede with that building a franken himself most likely will never look as good as his work even with the right parts. The parts is the most problematic part. Its good its not easy, but if one really wants this its very frustrating not being able to find conclusive informations. I think I just have to leave the idea for the next 2 months because its getting quite an obsession to me.

Really nice, They say some things are not as they where in the old days, well for me this is true for the vintage rolexes. The new ones just don't do it for me while they are very nice they seem to be missing some elegance, perhaps soul? Have been searching a lot on the board, I have not that much hope that anyone is willing to sell me a watch even if the issues with paypal could be resolved by using another payment option. Some things really take time and effort to get done. I have been thinking about building one myself but the lack of experience required tools etc all would make it a bit cybersome, lots of fun but takes a lot of patience. How much would be the total costs of an minimal required set of tools needed to build your own franken? I have seen topics about it but there was no price mentioned. Then also its very hard to obtain the right parts and give it the love it deserves. Perhaps sometime soon a nice DJ would become available in the sell section Situated in the Netherlands perhaps some enthousiasts could help me with the assemblage

Alligoat, Looks really good and something I would be really interested in. How is it possible to contact matt and would he be interested in doing business? I would really appreciate a watch like this and the craftsmanship in making it a reality. Watch looks really good. The idea is to elevate it in time to a original wrist band and an original dail; so then only the clock is asian replica and the crown. So only the movement and the wrist band are fake and other parts are real? The crown I would not care that much about its not that obvious.

Alligoat If I may ask sir, what would a franken from mymanmatt look like and what price would we be thinking of? I have even thought of getting a Tudor Glamour date and replace the dail although, it would be almost the same as the date just far less expensive same quality steel etc. And it would be less thick. Perhaps for me a franken would be really the best option having a original case dail and saving on the wrist band and the internal mechanic. Those can always be upgraded lateron, it can be an evolving project.

agreed but high demanding, it is indeed EXACT what im "missing" its to "thick" making it less elegant in my opinion. Look for example at this tudor: http://www.chrono24.nl/tudor/oyster-prince-date-day--id3023753.htm Its just smaller which makes it overal much better looking in my opinion. The new ones where missing something now you pointed it out they are thicker!